The Latest: Suspect bought gun days before bank shooting

SEBRING, Fla. – The Latest on the shooting of five women at a Florida bank (all times local):

5 p.m.

Authorities say the man who fatally shot five women at a Florida bank last week bought a gun several days before the shooting.

Sebring police announced Monday that 21-year-old Zephen Xaver bought a 9mm handgun and ammunition just days before Wednesday’s shooting at a SunTrust branch. A news release says testing is underway to determine if that gun was the same one used inside the bank.

The shooting left four employees and one customer dead. Police have said Xaver shot the women in an apparently random act of violence. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty for Xaver, who faces five counts of premeditated murder.

Xaver was hired as a trainee prison guard at Avon Park Correctional Institution on Nov. 2 and resigned Jan. 9. No disciplinary issues were reported.

___

10 a.m.

SunTrust has established a fund to offer financial support to the families of five women slain at a Florida bank branch.

In a statement Monday, SunTrust Chairman and CEO Bill Rogers said the outpouring of support for the victims’ families “has demonstrated the best of humanity in a time of tragedy.”

The Sebring Strong Survivors Fund is a partnership between the SunTrust Foundation and the National Compassion Fund, a subsidiary of the National Center for Victims of Crime.

Four SunTrust employees and a customer were killed in the Sebring bank’s lobby Wednesday. Police have said 21-year-old Zephen Xaver shot the women in an apparently random act of violence.

Prosecutors could seek the death penalty for Xaver, who faces five counts of premeditated murder.